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Berlin
'' This article is about the capital of Germany. For the Canadian city formerly known as Berlin, see'' Kitchener, Ontario. Berlin is the capital city and one of 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern Germany, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Area, comprising 5 million people from over 190 nations. Geographically embedded in the European Plains Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one third of the city´s territory is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes. Berlin in After the Downfall In April 1945, Soviet forces were storming Berlin despite desperate defensive actions by units such as Captain Hasso Pemsel's company. In the days to come, Berlin would fall, but Pemsel would not be there to see it. Berlin in Curious Notions Berlin was the capital of Imperial Germany, and therefore the de facto capital of the world. Together with Hamburg, Breslau and Muenchen, Berlin was world-famous for its fast changing skyline. A great number of skyscrapers were going up all over these cities, using advanced engineering methods which the Germans did not share with other countries. For all its prestige, Berlin had an entertainment scene which fell behind that of Paris. This was widely believed to be the reason that the Kaiser frequently found official reasons to go out of Berlin on visits to the City of Lights. Berlin in In the Presence of Mine Enemies In 2010, Berlin was the capital of the [[Germany (In the Presence of Mine Enemies)|Greater German Reich]] which ruled the largest land empire in the world. It was a huge, bustling metropolis with skyscrapers, subways, and cosmopolitan shopping centers. The capital was the home of key government offices and ministries including the Air and Space, Justice, Interior, Transportation, Food, Economics, Colonial, Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the SS, the Reich's Genealogical Office, and the Führer's Palace. There were several monuments including the Great Hall, Führer's Palace, Adolf Hitler Platz, Soldier's Hall and the Arch of Triumph. Much of the monumental architecture was designed by Albert Speer. Berlin was also a destination for tourists from the territories of the Germanic Empire, the Empire of Japan and Latin America. There was also a significant foreign population in the city. There was a Japanese restaurant near the government district called Admiral Yamamoto, an American-style restaurant named the Greasy Spoon. With the death of the third [[Führer of the Greater German Reich#In the Presence of Mine Enemies|German Führer]] Kurt Haldweim in 2010, Heinz Buckliger was chosen as the new Führer. He began subtly reforming the Reich by reversing many of the harsh policies of his predecessors by creating some degree of freedom of speech for discussion of hitherto-forbidden subjects, and eased - though by no means removed - the German yoke over dominated Aryan countries in Western Europe and North America. Reactionary opposition gathered around the still-powerful SS, while the populist Gauleiter of Berlin Rolf Stolle arose as the champion of accelerated reforms. Things came to a head when Buckliger set elections in the Reichstag which were relatively free. Under the leadership of ''Reichsführer-SS'' Lothar Prützmann, the SS attempted to stage a ''putsch'', holding Buckliger prisoner in the Croatian island of Hvar and installing former High Commissioner of Ostland Affairs Odilo Globocnik as the new Führer. The putsch was stymied by a manifestation of "people's power" led by Rolf Stolle, to which the ''Wehrmacht'' eventually lent its support. The call "Deutschland erwache" ("Germany, Awake!"), an old Nazi battle cry which helped Hitler to power, was in this context used as a call to defend reform and democracy. The Putsch was defeated based on the anti-Semitic assertion that the Reichsführer-SS and leader of the coup was himself of Jewish blood (a rumor, ironically, started by the hidden Jews themselves). In the aftermath, Prützmann shot himself, Globocnick was lynched by a mob, and several senior SS members were publicly hanged. Berlin in ''Joe Steele'' Berlin was the capital of Germany until the mid 1940s. Following the Reich's defeat in World War II, Berlin was the capital of the Soviet-supported German Democratic Republic, although East Berlin was separated from American-backed West Berlin. In 1953, anti-Soviet riots in East Berlin were bloodily quashed by Soviet soldiers.''Joe Steele'', p. 427. Berlin in The Man With the Iron Heart Berlin was occupied jointly by the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union after World War II. Unfortunately, the unification that stemmed from the drive to defeat Germany vanished once it was in fact defeated. This meant that the German Freedom Front was able to act in Berlin, and that the Allies (particularly the USSR) refused to cooperate with one another to put the GFF down. Noteworthy GFF acts in Berlin included the assassination of Marshal Ivan Koniev in May 1945, a suicide truck bombing that killed several parading Soviet soldiers, and the poisoning of several key Soviet officials on New Years' Eve, 1946. Berlin in "Ready for the Fatherland" Berlin was the capital of Nazi Germany, and therefore the de facto capital of the Fascist bloc during the Cold War.Counting Up, Counting Down, p. 99, paperback edition. Berlin in Southern Victory Berlin was the capital of the German Empire, a founding nation of the Central Powers. During the Great War, Berlin never saw any action due to the distance from the front lines. During the Second Great War, the city came under attack from the RAF and the French Air Force. As the war dragged on and the Entente was forced to retreat, attacks on the city decreased, until the German Army liberated the Netherlands, removing the threat to Berlin altogether. Berlin in The War That Came Early Berlin was the heart and center of the [[Germany (The War That Came Early)|Third Reich]] when the Second World War broke out in the fall of 1938. Although a far journey for many bombers, Berlin was first bombed in October 1938 by the Czechoslovak Air Force; Though this raid was only a pin prick. ''Luftwaffe'' commander Hermann Göring made the boast that if any air force could raid Berlin again, the German people could call him "Meyer". On New Year's night in 1938, the RAF made its first serious bombing raid against the city. This was later followed by the Russians, and then the French. Although these raids weren't doing any damage, it was difficult not to notice and caused many Berliners to privately call Göring "Meyer." As the war progressed, many Germans troops on the front lines came to see the government of Berlin as detached from the realities on the ground. The perception was not lessened after the Big Switch brough Britain and France in to a brief alliance with Germany against the USSR,See, e.g., The Big Switch, pg. 53-59, 403-408. TPB. and intensified after that alliance collapsed.Coup d'Etat, pg. 232, TPB. While Berlin was frequently bombed throughout the remainder of the war,See, e.g., Last Orders, pg. 147, TPB. it was spared foreign invasion when the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation overthrew Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in April 1944.Ibid, pgs. 300, 311, HC. The subsequent civil war saw heavy fighting outside Berlin, but the city proper was spared.Ibid, pg. 318. Berlin in Worldwar Berlin was the first Tosevite city destroyed by an explosive-metal bomb after the arrival of the Race's Conquest Fleet on Earth in 1942. Adolf Hitler escaped Berlin's destruction, much to the Race's (and many humans') lament. After the war, the Nazi Party decided not to rebuild Berlin and relocated their capital to Nuremberg. Officially they claimed they wanted to leave the city destroyed as a testament to the danger and depravity of the Race. In truth, the Germans found the cost of rebuilding the entire city prohibitive. References Category:German Cities Category:German States Category:National Capitals in Europe Berlin Category:Curious Notions Category:In the Presence of Mine Enemies Category:Joe Steele Category:The Man With the Iron Heart Category:Ready for the Fatherland Category:Southern Victory Category:The War That Came Early Category:Worldwar Category:Places Subjected to Atomic Bombing in Worldwar